P ACOREY MELA “Providing tremendous creativity and service to individuals and their furry family members.”
Ten years ago I left the comfort of the corporate world (I was in international marketing at 20th Century Fox) to pursue photography. Up until 2017, my efforts were focused more on live music, events, and portraiture (humans), but in the summer of 2017 I took a position as lead photographer for a company that focused on pets, and I realized that was my true calling. Animals have always been a true love of mine, and once I started working with pets it became very clear to me that this is what I’m meant to be doing! That company closed, so I struck out on my own, and Fur Family Photos was born in the summer of 2018. - Pamela I met Pamela at my WeWorks office in the Pacific Design Center. She had set up a display of her work in the Sky Lounge. After I poured myself a cappuccino I wandered over and started talking with her. She was enagaging, smart and very down to earth. I asked her if she would do an interview with me and she agreed. A few weeks later she shot photos of my two golden retreivers and they came out fabulous... a real treasure for my wife and me. Over the course of a month I finally got Pamela’s interview completed. I am delighted to present it here and I highly recommend dog lovers to engage her services. Here’s the result. When did you first think about photography as something you wanted to do? How did that evolve into Fur Family Photos? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors?? Although I wasn’t aware of it at the time, my interest in photography started as a child when I received my first little point and shoot camera, and our family dog Missy had puppies. I was madly in love (and obsessed) with them, and I knew that I didn’t have much time with them since they would be leaving for their forever homes soon. I wanted to capture the distinct personalities of each one before they left, so I took photos of them to remind me of what each one was like… and POOF a documentary photographer was born! It wasn’t until I left the corporate world of studio film marketing 10 years ago that I decided to focus on photography full time. Fortunately family and friends have supported me with words of encouragement throughout the ups and downs of the process. If not for them, I likely wouldn’t have endured the challenges along the way.
